1 hour later, London.

"Gentlemen, the German fleet that had infiltrated the North Atlantic from Norway had already found traces, and an hour earlier they had attacked our HZ-11 fleet, and at the moment our escort fleet and the American fleet were joining forces to counter their attack. We need the main fleet to be dispatched to protect the HZ-11 fleet. ”

It was unpleasant to be woken up in the middle of the night, but after hearing the Prime Minister's speech, the attendees could not help but be in good spirits, and it was clear that the goal of the German fleet was to eat the HZ-11 fleet.

"However, if the home fleet is dispatched as a whole, will there be problems with the defense of our coast?" Admiral Pound frowned, the home fleet was very risky in itself.

"The problem now is that the Air Force is more important, and the HZ-11 fleet not only has the 1,000 aircraft that we have purchased from the United States, but more importantly, it also has more than 50,000 tons of aluminum ingots and other important metals that we urgently need to make our aircraft. We can't afford to slip through the cracks. Churchill said firmly, "That's not all the main forces of the German fleet, and we can teach them a lesson." ”

Under the frenzied attacks of German warships and submarines, the losses of the British merchant fleet have risen rapidly in recent times, and after the fall of Gibraltar, less than 400,000 tons of supplies arrived in Britain from North America in October. The British Empire's already severe war situation was made worse by a shortage of supplies - the lack of aluminium made the manufacture of aircraft in great trouble. The planes lost in the Battle of Britain were not being replenished, and the air force that relied to resist the German offensive was being weakened.

And due to the lack of fuel, the number of sorties of the main fleet of the Royal Navy was greatly reduced.

"The question is if the German fleet in the Bay of Biscay makes a sortie. What to do when we go to the back of our back? It was the Chief of Staff of the Navy who said this, Mantrok, "so that our fleet is likely to suffer heavy losses." ”

"The United States is about to enter the war, and even if our fleet is lost, it will be replenished, but the Germans will not have an easy time. As a result, the threat to our sea lines will be greatly diminished in the coming months. Churchill said, "Now American warships are under attack, I think." President Roosevelt may have found an excuse to go to war. ”

"Well, the motto of the Royal Navy is if the enemy dares to come. We'll find it, and we'll sink it. We have no reason to be afraid of the Germans. Admiral Pound said that he was always on the side of the Prime Minister to speak for Churchill at all times. And not for the sake of the Navy.

Churchill's construction was supported by the majority, and soon, the commander of the Home Fleet, John ? Admiral Tovey received orders from London.

He left Scapaflo with the main force of the home fleet.

At the same time, the Royal Navy's fast fleet, led by three "Admiral" class battle cruisers including the "Hood", also left Belfast, where it was currently stationed, under the command of Vice Admiral Holland.

Vilmots? The task force of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd and 4th Air Fleets, commanded by Yankel, rendezvoused with the Chinese fleet, acting alone, in the waters west of Madeira, and then circled aimlessly for three days in the waters southwest of the Azores, as if to cut off the British from South America. It was not until dusk on November 30 that it suddenly turned back to the north and sailed at a high speed of 25 knots for a full night.

The shape of the sea is now very clear: an active naval offensive is brewing in the German-Austrian navy. The intention was to take advantage of the fact that the British were in a hurry to obtain war materials, first striking at the opposing convoy and attracting the main forces of the British fleet out of the protected area of the native aircraft. It is then forced to engage in a large-scale decisive battle at sea.

Such a battle plan was made on the basis of the absolute superiority of the German-Austrian naval forces. Since the Austro-Hungarian fleet entered the Atlantic to join the German fleet, the German and Austrian fleets were far superior to the Royal Navy in terms of number and tonnage, and of course began to actively look for opportunities for decisive battles.

In terms of the number of capital ships, Germany had five Mackensen-class and five German-class battleships in this area, while the Austro-Hungarian Navy had four Austrian-class, two Mackensen-class battleships and two combined-forces battleships, plus the only two Veneto-class battleships of the Italians. In total, there were 20 battleships, while the British Royal Navy had four "Queen Elizabeth" class, four "Revenge" class, three "Hood" class, two "Nelson" class and five "George V" class battleships. The total number of battleships was 18, which was not very weak in the strength of the combined German-Austrian navy.

In terms of aircraft carriers, due to the sinking of the "Glorious" and the "Invincible" far away in Australia, the Royal Navy currently has a total of 10 aircraft carriers, the USS Rage, HMS Brave, HMS Ark Royal, USS Athletic, USS Radiance, HMS Victory, HMS Fearful, HMS Indomitable, HMS Eagle and USS Hundred-Eyed Giant, in fact, the number of aircraft carriers ranks first in the world. But Germany has 6 aircraft carriers, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy currently has 9 aircraft carriers, plus two aircraft carriers of the Italian Navy and 4 aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy, the Axis group currently has a total of 21 aircraft carriers, far more than the United Kingdom in number.

Although the Japanese Navy also has 10 aircraft carriers, it is rampant in East Asia and the Western Pacific, and has little to do with the European theater.

As a traditional naval power, the British also attached great importance to the development of aircraft carriers, but after World War I, limited by the declining economy, the British made two heavy mistakes in the construction of aircraft carriers, the first is the lack of tonnage of aircraft carriers, with a displacement of about 15,000 tons. Second, due to the use of armored flight decks and hangars, the area of the hangar has been greatly reduced, and the number of carrier-based aircraft is insufficient, only the "Royal Ark" has 72 carrier-based aircraft, and the number of other aircraft carrier-based aircraft is only about 40 plus, which is insufficient in its offensive and defensive forces.

Excluding the Hundred-Eyed Giant, which has now been converted into a training ship, the total number of carrier-based aircraft on all nine aircraft carriers that Britain can combat now is less than 400, while the Austro-Hungarian Navy is equipped with more than 420 combat aircraft on only four "Romanian" class aircraft, which is a huge gap.

The British Ark Royal, the only aircraft carrier that can adapt to the requirements of modern naval warfare, has greatly weakened the underwater armor protection due to the limitation of displacement, while the "Zeppelin" class aircraft carrier built by the German Navy with a similar appearance and structure to the Ark Royal has a displacement of more than 5,600 tons more than it, and both structural strength and underwater protection are much stronger than the Ark Royal.

These weaknesses may not seem very problematic in normal times, but on the battlefield, they can be infinitely magnified and become fatal flaws, and in another time and space, the Ark Royal was sunk after only one torpedo hit, which was also caused by a defect in underwater protection.

In comparison, the Americans and the Japanese are basically on the right path in the construction of aircraft carriers.

By now, the shape of the sea has become clear: the British convoy is currently about 1,100 nautical miles from the mainland, and the main fleet of the Royal Navy is now fully dispatched, about 100 nautical miles west of the British coast. Admiral Lukins suffered a secret loss in the battle with the British convoy last night, but he did not expect that his opponent actually had four battleships, and after more than an hour of fierce artillery battle, Admiral Lukins took the initiative to withdraw from the battle before dawn.

The order from the German Admiralty was to ask Lukins to take advantage of the range and maneuverability of the battleships to continue to entangle that transport fleet, and to temporarily not send aircraft carriers to launch an air attack, so as to attract the main British force to come to support.

Hans? Admiral Frankel and Wilhelm? The main force of the German-Austrian fleet under the command of Admiral Marshall set off from Saint-Nazaire, attracting the attention of the British and creating a false impression on the British side that the main force of the German-Austrian fleet, which was still in the Bay of Biscay, could not intercept the retreat of the British main fleet.

Admiral Jankel's task force was a surprise force that needed to travel more than 1,300 nautical miles in three days to launch a surprise attack on the British home fleet from the flanks. According to strict calculations, it took about two days for the British Home Fleet to reach the rescue site, and the Yankel fleet needed to maintain an average high speed of more than 20 knots to be able to reach the battlefield before the British fleet entered the home air defense circle.

This is one of the reasons why the British Navy did not pay much attention to the Yankel fleet, they were too far from the battlefield, and the British did not know that Yankel had already moved more than three hundred nautical miles north in advance last night. (To be continued) R580